1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to gas meters, and more particularly, to a unitary mounting bracket for efficiently mounting a plurality of elements within a gas meter housing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, gas meters can be classified into three categories: (a) diaphragm meters, (b) rotary meters, and (c) turbine meters. Typically, the diaphragm gas meters are used in low flow rates, which include many domestic applications. Rotary gas meters are used in intermediate flow rates, which include commercial and light industrial applications. Finally, turbine gas meters are used in high flow rates, such as with large transmission loads.
A rotary gas meter has a rotary head that is rotated at a rate proportionate to the volume of gas flowing through a certain region, such as through a given diameter of a pipe. The rotary output from the meter head is typically along a horizontal axis and is converted with suitable gearing into a rotary motion along a vertical axis. An instrument drive is typically driven with this vertical rotary motion and drives mechanical components located in another housing. These mechanical components include an electronic pulse switch that supplies an input to a correcting instrument located in the other housing.
The correcting instrument would use the input from the electronic pulse switch, such as a magnetic reed switch, for determining the volume of gas by detecting the number of pulses from the electronic pulse switch. The correcting instrument also adjusts the calculated volume of gas due to variances caused by temperature and pressure.
This conventional rotary head, instrument drive, correcting instrument, and other components make the rotary gas meter rather large and bulky due to the separate housings for the rotary gas meter and for the correcting instrument. The conventional rotary head is also rather complicated due to the mechanical gearing for converting the horizontal motion into a vertical motion and the additional mechanical components for coupling the vertical motion to the electronic pulse switch.